A new study has revealed that early man was likely a homebody who stayed put in the cave, while early woman fled the nest in search of better genetic mates. Huh, how about that!

The study was conducted by the University of Colorado at Boulder and was based off of experiments conducted on 2-million-year-old molars. The molars came from caves in South Africa, and the researchers used high-tech dental analysis to gain insight into how early humans interacted with the land around them.
Essentially, the molars were blasted with laser beams (seriously) to determine what type of strontium they contained. Strontium, or the metallic element found in soil and absorbed into plants, was then digested by animals which early humans fed on. That strontium then became incorporated in the tooth enamel, an important aspect that led researchers to determine the type of environment the humans had been in, and at what point each individual reached maturity.

What they found was that while men had experienced one type of landscape, women had much more variety in their strontium. Which means they either left the nest to find greener pastures (so to speak), or they were kidnapped by stronger males (GASP!).

Who knew all that could come from your molars? For more information about the study click here.